Sunday, 8 October 2017

I'm sitting at the shared desk in our living room surrounded by sticky notes of the pale insipid yellow variety and equally garish coloured labels wondering:

. . . h o w d i d I g e t h e r e ?

Now don't get me wrong, when I say that I'm not saying "why has everything turned out like this?" in a negative light. Far from it.

I'm actually in a place whereby I am grateful for everything in my life. I'm grateful for the comings and goings, the dark and the light, the rich experiences and the poor. I guess it was like an epiphany the other morning when holding a soul soothing cup of tea, watching the steam curl away from the cup when suddenly I faced my younger self in an old photo. It was black and white because I remember how much that version of myself loved a black and white filter from the old Logitech webcam. I remember the obsessive correcting of the frankly terrible fringe I had and the feeling that followed upon getting it "just right". Then I felt that feeling you can only describe as age: I felt a compelling sadness seeing this photo as I realized exactly what that version of myself who was moderately cheerful and kept herself busy, who often complained about things which on reflection were so minor and insignificant compared to the greater cause of life, had yet to come, and how that busy, moderately content girl would become a woman, and how grateful I became in that moment upon realizing what it had took to go from that girl to this woman, surrounded by insipid yellow sticky notes and garish coloured labels.

So I'd like to ask you to sit down, with a comforting drink today, and confront your younger self. What has he/she done so far? What will they have to go through that you already know they will go through? And what do you hope for yourself in the future? What do you want to happen? What are your goals, your aspirations, your hopes and your dreams? Are you proud? Because I think you should be.

Take a step back in time and then imagine your future, whilst staying on the ground, and aware of your current surroundings.

Wednesday, 9 August 2017

Today I am going to share with you some things / products that I have either been enjoying over July and into August or discovered my love for in August.

To summarise, July was a wonderful month for me. My happiness in my new job continued, I made lots of new friends and went out with old friends and had a good time. I hope July brought you as much happiness as it did for me and you made lots of precious memories.

So, onto the favourites.

The first item I've been loving has been the Morphe 35T palette which I bought in June I believe. The palette is my second one from Morphe and I'd been lusting over it's shimmering earthy tones for a while and upon purchasing it from Beauty Bay I've fallen even more in love with it.

The palette itself is incredibly reasonably priced at £22.99 (I think that's how much I paid). The colours are fairly well pigmented, they're not all as blendable as some other brands that I've experienced but in fairness I am willing to pay a fair amount for my eye palettes as I personally feel that to me, eyeshadow creates as much of an impact as your skin does.

My next favourite has to be my new Jack Wills hoodie that arrived yesterday. In fairness, it counts as a favourite because it's the same as my other Jack Wills longline hoodie that I got in April / March time, except I got it this time in navy, and the writing (whilst still in my favourite retro traditional early days JW font) is actually printed on the fabric as opposed to stitched on which I admittedly prefer and it is a duo tone of white for the logo and pink for the catch-phrase of "Fabulously British". I decided a darker colour would be really flattering as opposed to a light grey which the majority of my Jack Wills hoodies are. My original longline hoodie is a beautiful cornflower blue, which I adore, but I really recommend this particular style that they're designing as it's longline, meaning it sits a lot lower on the body, it's a lot larger and in my opinion, a darnsight comfier than traditional body hugging styles. I tend to buy these in a size 14 as I like to size up in hoodies.

My next favourite has to be my Alex Monroe large Rose Gold Bumble Bee necklace, it's been an investment piece that I've grown to love more and more, it's elegant and goes with just about anything. Whilst simple, it draws attention to itself with it's unique colouring and complimentary chain length which leaves it sitting perfectly diagonally down from the collarbones.

My next favourite is of the same vein, it is my pair of Maria Tash single spike white gold hoops from Liberrty London (a single hoop was purchased online from them) and TomFoolery London (the other single hoop was purchased from them online too). These are the best earrings I've ever had, the white gold is stunning and of a wonderful quality (because if you're a bit of a jewellery fan like me you'll know that gold quality varies HUGELY. For instance, you can buy £30 white gold hoops and find the metal bends when putting into the piercing etc - so all in all, it's worth spending more to ensure the highest quality and durability of white gold).

My next favourite is the NYX 'Cairo' matte lipstick that I discovered as a result of seeing Tanya Burr wearing it, which I bought in April and have just repurchased as I wear it every single day. It doesn't last as long as more expensive matte lipsticks but for an hour or two, I love the colour and scent of this lipstick, it smells like cocoa butter!

And finally, my last favourite is my new collection of Lilo & Stitch Disney Land / Walt Disney World / Disney Parks trading pins! My first ever pin was the Valentine Stitch holding the rose which I bought brand new and sealed from Disney Land Paris when I went last year, I then purchased Stitch's Adventure of Discovery Epcot pin (Limited Edition of 1500) from online last week and then I received in the mail today all the others from a seller on Depop who sold me them all as a bundle. My favourites are definitely Valentines, Epcot & Space Adventure (because that one actually moves, it literally rocks backwards & forwards like in the film, damn now I have to go watch the first film again! Funnily enough Space Adventure was the one pin in the bundle I thought I'd be least interested in!)

So those are my August Favourites, I hope you enjoyed seeing everything.

Sunday, 23 July 2017

I guess you could say life has just been flying by in a blur of ecstasy. Not the drug, the feeling!

I got a full time job in the middle of June, and since then, my life has been careering forward (excuse the pun) like a land train, and I don't know where I'm headed, but I love it. The people that I'm close to where I work are all incredible and beautiful people. The people I don't know as well are all still really wonderful people too, and I can genuinely say I don't dislike anyone there, and I get the feeling everyone also likes me. I've not just gained a job, I've also gained a family. The figurative uncle's hilarious and gives great hugs, the nieces and nephews are all awesome individuals who work together to keep everything running smoothly, and my illness repressed social loving soul has flourished again, I've had a few bad eggs throw minor strops, but otherwise, everything is honestly, so great right now.

Having a job means I've been able to check something off my designer wishlist which I'll share with you soon.

I've lost a bit of weight which isn't bad at all, although I do tend to get home from work and reach for a twister ice lolly no matter the time of night (sometimes it's 11.45pm when I grab one....)

I'm just so much happier. I'm in a very good place.

Very sadly, my adoptive grandma lost Lily at the start of this year (her beautiful lilac point British Shorthair cat). You may remember I told you about Mutley whom she had and he was put to sleep a couple of years ago (I still miss him), and Lily, bless her angelic soul was put to sleep at the start of this year as she had carcinoma of the jaw. I miss her, she was the gentlest, most loving little soul. She's out of pain now, and Wendy gave her a year of love and happiness. I've found another lilac point British Shorthair for adoption that Wendy, her friend and I visited on Saturday morning before I went off to work, and he was so scared of people. He has behavioural issues which is worrying Wendy, because she doesn't know if he'll be able to break through these issues. I know he can. He honestly reminds me so much of Mutley appearance wise, and I know under that scared little appearance is a chunky, swaggering bad-ass cat like Mut. I just hope when she visits him on her own tomorrow and sees how he interacts with the receptionist (whom he is apparently close to) she will see how much potential he has, because I know, I just know, he is third time lucky. I just want her to be happy and have a kitty companion who will stay by her side.

As for me?

My soul is content. My three cats are all well and happy. My mother and I were discussing the cats she has had in her lifetime, and she told me Gü is the oldest cat she's had in her life. (Güis ten years old) so I'm very protective of my girl, when I saw her in the rescue center ten years ago, I felt a connection to her instantly, and fell in love with my kitty best friend, and she's stayed by my side all this time.

Miko & Suki are doing well, they're getting bigger, (Moomoo especially), he's a happy, chunky, handsome little boy and Suki is getting taller and even sleeker and more elegant with each passing day.

My studies are over until October, and meanwhile it's all the paperwork to get sorted (not on my end thankfully, I got that done in my days off last week, no wait, the week before, see? I told you weeks are flying by. Maybe that's just the way it goes when you're so ecstatic that time just melts before your very eyes).

I have always said to you that time will heal and that things will get better. If I'm not proof of that, then I don't know what is.

I've got back into horoscopes again lately, and discovered that I adore "Headlock" and "Speeding Cars" by Imogen Heap, as well as the "Headlock vs Lights" remix that someone has made. It fits together so well.

I'm off on a mini - holiday at the start of September so I may vlog a couple of exciting experiences (it's nothing exotic but it does appear to be something not well documented on YouTube) and besides, I do kind of miss vlogging (more than ordinary YouTube videos). There are just too many hang ups over perfection when it comes to YouTube videos, and honestly, I'm too busy to even think about spending an hour setting up a camera and filming for twenty odd minutes, then editing for the next four hours. It's just too much to want to think about let alone do. I'm not quitting my channel by any means, but I've decided only to film when I truly want to when I have the time, so if I want to vlog the start of September, then I will.

Keep smiling my friend, and the fondest of farewells to you from this post and this Samantha in time,

Funnily enough, the t-shirt was actually a t-shirt dress on me, it was incredibly long and baggy so I cut it to resemble a more boxy fitting tee and I love it so much more now! Missy Empire is a recently discovered brand for me, I think I came across it via an ad placement on Facebook and I just really loved their unique spin on several trends. This along with two ruffle sleeve dresses went straight to the checkout with me.

The sunglasses are as far as I'm aware a discontinued style from Quay Australia (my favourite sunglasses brand, honestly, I don't buy sunglasses anywhere else now!), they're called 'Vivienne' and I bought them from blogger Alix a.k.a ICovetThee on Depop. I thought these were the exclusive and discontinued 'The Playa' ASOS edition sunglasses and bought them (they weren't listed with a style name so I took a gamble and although they're not the exact style I wanted, I absolutely adore them!) I now own 6 pairs of QA sunglasses and I'm beginning to need a way to store them all!

The little cacti bag charm is a recent addition, I bought it in the H&M on Oxford Street, it was £2.99 and it's one of a few small souvenirs that I brought home from my recent trip to London.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this outfit, if you have any requests for outfits or blog posts, please leave them as a comment down below or contact me through my 'CONTACT' tab.

Thursday, 18 May 2017

I don't half pick funny random days of the week to post these, but I guess like most things on my blog nowadays, they're done in the moment, when the inspiration strikes.

So today's post is a week in review post, I love writing these types of post, because I get to tell you a sort of story about my week and if I'm lucky you guys will let me know how you've been too either via commenting or sometimes you guys tweet me which is really nice because I love hearing from you.

This past week has been all over the place.

I've had a lot of ups and downs, and I've been keeping to strict deadlines for university (and I STILL haven't finished). I'm struggling with one of the three assignments quite a lot but I guess I'm getting there, I'm just over halfway now. I've finished one assignment completely and the third has been started and I feel positive about that one, I'm not concerned about writing that one.

I've been really rather tired recently but I'm getting through it, and I've been very emotionally confused lately. To clarify that, I mean one minute I feel positive about my progression with life in general and then I feel really worried that I'm not making any real progression. I guess I just have to trust that I'll get where I need to be at the end.

I recently picked up a fashion magazine (which I haven't done in a very long time) because I fancy browsing at the visual elements of it and admiring the way in which they choose to put together an outfit.

I've personally been more invested in sorting my wardrobe out, since I'm always finding holes in it, (I'd love to say that was just the slip of the tongue but honestly I've also found the tops I own in a certain soft material keep getting multiple holes in them at the bottom center and I have NO idea why, I do know it isn't moths though) and tops are always lacking. I've been dressing in a more mature way, whilst keeping my little spin on things as always.

I've been watching Doctor Who for the first real time since David Tennant's days as the doctor, and I'll be honest, it took me a REALLY long time to get into it. I have to admit that Peter Capaldi is good at what he does, but it just doesn't feel right reverting from super gorgeous David Tennant to Matt Smith (who didn't float my boat) to Capaldi. Sad truth, but aesthetics really come into my enjoyment of programs. I hope that doesn't sound as superficial as it does now in my head?! Anyway, I have been enjoying the new series now that I've caught up on BBC iplayer and I feel more connected with the characters. Any DW fans reading this? What are your thoughts on PC and the 'new' DW?

Good things? Well I'm a sad-ass sap who has started enjoying crappy short romance novels because that's better than being hit on by some of the deadbeat old guys who make eyes at the girls in this town. No idea where that sentiment came from. Probably the dark recesses of my soul.

I'm gonna go get some hot cocoa and think about life.

Ah anyway, if you read this, you need some milk.

(HE NEEDS SOME MILK if you had no idea what I was referencing. Look it up)

Wednesday, 3 May 2017

As hard as it may be to believe, my heart has been set on designer goods since I was eleven. That was the age that I dreamed of starting a fashion blog, (and having absolutely no idea how to I sort of kept putting the idea to the back of my mind and putting it off, as I thought it wasn't truly possible. I made various blogs, none of them ever going out to anyone other than myself, and dreaming that one day, one day I would create a place to share my fashion loves with like minded people. I can gladly say today, that dream came true.)

I've only ever owned a few designer pieces, and they've always stayed in my mind.

I found a genuine (and now incredibly popular and sought after) Moschino Red Wall Italy Black leather belt with the 'MOSCHINO' gold letters. I bought this at a car boot for £3. I bartered with the seller, because I was about 13 or 14, and had very little pocket money to spare. The lady kindly accepted my offer, and I kept it for a few years, but it was always too small for me, so I eventually sold it and it sold for over £100, which for someone who was a teenager with little money, was a huge and very pleasant surprise!

My next piece was a Dolce & Gabbana cherry print bra that was far too small for me, that I found in TKMAXX for £10 and bought just for the pleasure of owning such a beautiful designer piece. I don't know what happened to that but it probably got sold on at some point.

Either way, I've only ever had a few designer pieces. As a young adult, I still dream of being out of university, in a full time job with a disposable income and of the beautiful designer pieces I may treat myself to once in a while. So I wanted to share with you today, the pieces I dream of buying.

Tuesday, 2 May 2017

Recently, in case you hadn't seen, the ruffle trend has been trickling into the high street stores like rivers of goodness ready to capture the hearts of any unsuspecting ladies. The ruffle trend has, shall we say, hit hard, and I believe the trend is here to stay.

I myself became captivated after having discovered a top that was so unlike anything else I'd encountered (a certain sold out limited edition Topshop top that I showed in my Spring Haul & Wardrobe Update video) As I mentioned in the video, I had to send back the one I had due to it's unforgiving material, and said I had found another elsewhere (that fell through, but I've since found another which I'll have in hand hopefully by the end of the week!)

Anyway, I wanted to share with you, and possibly introduce you to what I believe is a lasting and beautiful trend: The puff sleeve ruffle top.

Credit: AliexExpress

Credit: Boohoo

Credit: StyleofSam

Credit: TheFashionMagpie

This trend can be mastered for daytime pleasure with simple blue wash jeans, or for more fancy ocassions, a similarly ruffled skirt in either a different colour (if matching with a white top, it can look beautiful with a bright and colourful A Line skirt) or in the same colour (which proves tricky if trying to match up as shade differences aren't usually subtle!) Pair with some oversized sunglasses and you could look like a movie star.

I myself have ordered the Boohoo version as shown in the second image above, and am looking forward to showing you my take on the outfit I have in mind. This trend isn't for the faint hearted, it is in itself, a work of art, and something the wearer should wear proudly and confidently, because darling, you look a million dollars.

Friday, 21 April 2017

Today is a beautiful day, and like usual I'm struggling to add anything useful to my university assignment (I'm pretty sure my choice of module wasn't that great, actually).

Credit: Lovethispic

I just wanted to take this moment to say, use your day wisely.

Think before you say that insulting thing on your mind whilst you're in a spur of the moment argument with your friend, family member or partner.

Work hard on yourself. Try to be a better person. I've been trying harder lately to learn to be more patient, and more forgiving. I won't deny it, it hasn't always been easy. Some positive personality traits don't always come easily, but you can always learn them. I've always had trust issues which I don't want to get into, but let's put it this way, I've been let down by people who were very close to me in the past and that's meant I'm pretty closed off from letting people in. Learning to trust isn't easy, but the positive of being disappointed is that I've developed a pretty sharp sense for knowing who is genuine and who isn't, so see the positives in the negatives. There's bound to be something good there. If there isn't, well maybe you're looking in the wrong place and need a fresh plot of good to plough.

Say something nice to a colleague today. Make them smile, and let them know in your own little way you appreciate them.

If anything, why not follow another of my readers/followers (you can find them on my Google + widget on the right of my blog, you may need to scroll down a little) and make a new friend? I am grateful and so fortunate to have such lovely readers/followers, and I feel it's time to give a little back to all of you, because you've not only been amazing, but you've helped me be a better person.

So get out there, make a new friend, find inspiration in your surroundings and please,

Tuesday, 4 April 2017

And I'm pleased to be back, bringing you a new look that I love wearing at the moment, and there's another Outfit Of The Day coming at the weekend! I'm getting a new camera lens at the end of the month so I hope it'll make a big difference to future OOTDs!